Jeff Koons, disgrace to MICA.

Personally im pissed off that Jeff Koons went to the same school as me because now we are all associated with copyright infringement. It's ridiculous the likeness of his sculpture to Rogers' photo. I also hate Koons for employing Jaclyn Santos. I HATE JACLYN SANTOS. She has no original ideas of her own which i learned in "Work of Art" on Bravo, and I can see where she gets it from. She is such a talented painter but ruins it. Koons is also incredibly successful and versatile. he works in do many mediums so well but it's all bullshit. Art should have got all the proceeds from the sculptures. He was totally within his rights to sue.

The appeal of the photo is evident ans incredibly inspiring; But the fact that Koons used his inspiratinon to rip off Rogers is crazy. the photo and the sculpture are exactly the same. The only difference is the stupid daisys which i suppose are supposed to represent something of whimsy or whatever, but its not enough. its just stupid. the sculpture even cuts off at the knee like the photo and is just sitting there on the ground ike the photo would.

Despite my strong feelings against Koons' actions im still fuzzy on what exactly is copyright infringement and what is appropriation. What gave me the biggest insight was this excerpt from James Traub's article in The New Design Observer, "Art Rogers vs. Jeff Koons"

" In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include —

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work."

Even armed with this knowledge, the line between legal and not is so blurred. I hope i dont get into any trouble like Koons did, but i would never be THAT stupid.